But let's see what he does now. Because Fish's two bureaus -- Housing and Portland Parks and Recreation -- are looking for new leaders. Margaret Van Vliet, the thoughtful and business-savvy leader of the Housing Bureau, announced last week that she's heading to Salem to work for Gov. John Kitzhaber. And Zari Santner, who perhaps will be best known for her attention to aesthetics on landmark projects, retired from the Parks Bureau at the end of June.

Expect that their replacements will have something in common: Money. As in, knowledge and experience overseeing voter-backed tax hikes.

Right now, about half of Portland's affordable housing money comes from urban renewal. That so-called set-aside program is something of a double-edged sword, however, because the source of stable funding exists only as long as Portland keeps creating or prolonging districts. If the districts go away, so does the money.

That helps explain why Fish went to Seattle in March to learn about our northern city's financial model, which includes a bond and several levies to pay for affordable housing.

Parks, meanwhile, has stockpiled land east of Interstate 205 but doesn't have the money to open or operate them. History on parks funding has been mixed: In 2002 voters passed a five-year operating levy for parks, shot down a bond measure in 1998 but blessed by nearly a 2-to-1 margin a bond package in 1994.

If Fish is serious about funding these programs, he's been given the perfect opportunity to put leaders in place to help make it happen.